What happens if you stop

This is the part of the conversation that tends to happen too late, so it is here at the start.

These medications work while they are being taken. When they are stopped, appetite generally returns and weight generally follows. That is not a failure of the medication and it is not a lack of willpower — it is what treating a chronic condition with an ongoing treatment looks like when the treatment stops.

It makes the muscle question more important, not less. The habits that protect lean mass — the protein, the three sessions — are the ones that still work when the medication is not there, and they are what determines whether regained weight comes back as fat.

It also makes it worth deciding in advance what your plan is, rather than discovering it during a month when your prescription has lapsed.

Message the care team rather than simply stopping. There are reasons to stop and ways to do it that are better than others, and cost, side effects and life circumstances are all things a clinician would rather know about than guess at.

• When the scale stops moving
• What happens if you stop